Wednesday, October 31, 2012

Altho I am currently dressed as Rupert the science bear, I just have to post a pic of my steampunk Lady Vader costume from the weekend. I am very pleased with how it turned out. I love taking things and changing it just enough to make it my own. J's EL wire finally arrived so he could finish his mask too.
I love Halloween.

I was going to wear it to work, but I wasn't sure if a corset was "work appropriate" so Rupert the bear saves the day once again. I have my lab coat and slide whistle and it's been fun. I actually sat through a short meeting with the bear head and a lab coat on, which I must admit has been a lifelong goal of mine :) I'm glad I wore it, since the new labs are at about 16 degrees today (they're mucking with the AC) so I'm glad for the warmth :)

Sunday, October 28, 2012

Wednesday, October 24, 2012

J is covering the civic election live on the tv tonight as the results trickle in.
Our cat Gavin is most confused as to why he is inside the glowybox and not here.
So proud of him. He is rarely in front of camera and prefers to be behin the scenes, but when he chooses to be, he is so confident and good at interviewing. He's doing an exceptional job. :)

Monday, October 22, 2012

Yes...this weekend I became a man. :)
Saturday was a warm up. Since our furnace was replaced (last year...cough) the basement has been in complete disarray from having moved half of it and cramming it ALL into my craft room. Literally. You couldn't even go into the room it was so full of STUFF. Up to the door. So disheartening. Thing is -I refused to just move junk around...I wanted to reorganize it all properly and haven't had the time to until now. I spent all saturday attacking that room...and I won. Took a whole carload of cardboard and recyclables in and a carload of old records and clothes to a local charity shop (leftover from my dad). Now, there is still a long way to go to get it more organized but the crap is gone and things are grouped for sorting out in the next few weeks. You can walk around in there and see the floor and desktops. It's a room again. My haven for me is a real room again. FINALLY.

Then sunday I proved that I can use power tools and learned about the van.
Last weekend I was embarrassed when driving home from the lake a light came on and off in the van dash and I didn't know what it was for or what to do about it. Warning lights are important and I refuse to be a ditz and accidentally ruin a vehicle by my own lack of knowledge. Turns out the mystery light was a transmission overheating light which (thankfully) was not working right or the transmission could have been damaged by driving with it on. And unlike an engine/oil light you don't turn the vehicle off immediately- for this warning light you have to pull over and idle until the light goes off and the tranny is cooled off and then you can keep driving or turn it off. We have right hand drive Mitsubishi Starwagon Delica L300 we imported from Japan as a camping vehicle and it's my husband's second lover...I rarely drive it and I haven't had time or made the effort to learn about it until now. Long overdue. I asked J to show me all the important things on the Delica I should know to drive it responsibly. We checked the tranny fluid is full and seems nice and red, so the transmission seems OK (the sensor has been acting up apparently so we need to replace the sensor, and maybe the fluid since it's been a few years), and J showed me how to check the oil and all other fluids (which are all inside the van under the centre console and passenger seat) and where the fuses and jack are.

Then I got my RawR on and got to work. The back area of our basement has a workbench (currently mountained with random tools. ahem.) and the rest of the room is the place where all the crap that was in my craft room came from. I have needed a storage unit back there for ages...and so I measured & sketched and we were off to Home Depot in the van for some lumber and paint. Then I threw on a work jacket, gloves and toque and worked outside with my drill and chop saw and built custom storage shelves for the back room. They aren't fancy...just functional, strong and exactly what we need. Custom L shape with 4 shelves, exactly the right depth for the rubbermaid bins we will be using to sort and store all our junk in. J helped me mount them to the wall and secure the cross shelving after supper. We worked together and finished the evening with an ice cold Grolsh feeling very proud of ourselves.

Friday, October 19, 2012

My friend Shane, in wishing my friend Cheyenne happy birthday, has made me spit coffee out of my nose on public transit reading Facebook this morning, giggling uncontrollably like a nutter. People actually looked over and tutted at me with disdain. (Troglodytes. All of them.) On 1.5 hours of sleep after insomnia last night this post put me over the edge. I'm still giggling randomly about it an hour later..."Consider the internet scoured for the best birthday humour that doesn't include penis cakes. Do you realize how many birthday penis cakes get given out yearly? my god that's a lot of penis.Completely unrelated to said penis cakes, I couldn't choose one of these to be more funny than the other so here's two ecardsalso...on your wall now...it says 'my god that's a lot of penis'...twice."

Yes. The world is full of crazy and wonderful people. Some of them I am lucky enough to call my friends...:)

Monday, October 15, 2012

Friday, October 05, 2012

Hope you all have a marvelous Thanksgiving. We are heading up to Dad's at the lake, where I'll be making turkey, Mum's stuffing and mashed taters for a small horde. The horde will be bringing salads and pie. Should be nice and relaxing. We picked up some sheets of MDF so Dad and I can make some end tables while we are up there. Yes - we will soon be adults with our own bedside tables. I still use the old wooden stacking shelf-thing I inherited from Grapecat in my dormitory eons ago. J will no longer need to use metal stacking cubes. Oh yes...we're moving up! A little paint when we get back and viola!

...the accordion?

So glad the 50s are over....

Tonight we're heading out to see Iron Sky. Hee hee...nazi spaceships from the dark side of the moon invading earth ...I can't wait. So cheesy!!

The fall chill has come and the leaves have turned and are falling. Everything is orange and red and the air is crisp. I'm digging out the sweaters and wooly socks and am keeping warm with some amazing fingerless gloves that were made and sent by the ever lovely Grapecat. Warm and wooly and totally unique.

What I'm doing in my head ALL THE TIME

About Me

I'm a nice person. No really, I am.
I'm definitely not trying to create a monster in my lab and I'm definitely not working on a cure for cancer...Well....OK maybe. After kicking breast cancer's ass I got back to mad science -maybe my research will help cure cancer some day...the monster thing just sounds more cool...if being a scientist can be said to be cool...umm...
hey what's that over there?
(whoosh!)